


What comes next?

by darcyalex



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Family, Friendship/Love, Ghosts, Humor, Multi, Music, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26857765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darcyalex/pseuds/darcyalex
Summary: Things are looking up for Julie and the Phantoms. They're playing regular shows, gaining a fanbase, and Julie even gets a call from a potential manager from a well known music company. But there's still dangers out there that also need to be navigated. What comes next for the band?
Relationships: Alex & Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina, Julie Molina & Ray Molina, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 50
Kudos: 171





	1. Chapter One

_Even if I’m the last standing, I’mma stand tall, I'mma stand tall._

Luke savoured that last drawn out note like he always did. This was one of his favourite moments of every show, listening to Julie drag out the final note of his favourite song they’d written.

The crowd cheered and the boys stood next to Julie, waving at the audience with her. Luke thought that was one of the best things about their new abilities, being able to stick around on stage as long as they wanted. It was almost his most favourite part—almost.

He held Julie’s hand as the four of them took a bow together. They knew it would cause more questions about how her holograms worked, but Luke didn’t care. He _loved_ being able to hold her hand at the end of the night.

The boys disappeared back stage and waited for Julie to join them in the green room.

As soon as the door opened, they were waiting to surprise her, like always.

“Julie!” they all yelled in unison.

She didn’t even jump anymore. They all embraced in a hug and cheered excitedly.

“That was definitely one of our best,” Luke said excitedly, breaking the hug and dropping onto the couch with a satisfactory sigh. “We’ve gotta be getting calls from managers soon.”

“Any day now,” Julie said, smiling at him.

In the month since the Orpheum show, they’d gotten a few calls to open for a number of local shows. With Julie still needing to go to school, they’d had to turn down a few, so this was only their third gig, but their Youtube video was still doing well.

There was a knock on the green room door and Julie answered.

“Just me, _mija_ ,” her dad stuck his head through the door. “You were so amazing out there."

"Thanks dad." His unwavering support was one of the things that continued to inspire her most.

Ray hated that he had to disappoint her, but he also had to be a good parent. "I know you wanna stick around for the other bands, but you have school tomorrow.” 

A disappointed, but understanding look settled on Julie’s face. “Yeah, I know. I just need five minutes to change. I’ll meet you out the front.”

That was the deal. Julie could play the occasional show on a school night, but she wasn’t allowed to stay.

The boys looked at her after her dad left. “You really can’t stick around?” Reggie asked.

“No, I promised,” Julie reminded him. “After that time I snuck out, I’m surprised I was able to get him to agree to any school night shows. But you guys should definitely stay and watch the other bands,” she told them.

Reggie looked at Luke and Alex.

“No, it’s all good, we’ll meet you at home,” Luke said, sitting up.

Julie shook her head. “No, really. You should get to know some of the music you’ve been missing out on. You need to get caught up if we’re going to start playing with some of these bands.”

Luke was torn. He didn't want to be out having fun with the boys while Julie had to go home, but he loved watching live music almost as much as he loved playing it.

“Well,” Julie said, while the boys thought about what to do. “Whatever you decide, right now you need to leave the room so I can change.”

The boys complied and went out to watch the second band that was playing after them. Just before the band finished, Alex spotted Julie walking out, so the boys poofed outside to wish her goodnight.

When they got there, Julie wasn’t alone—she was talking to Nick.

 _What’s he doing here?_ Luke thought, feeling the envy rising in him.

They walked through the crowd to Julie as Nick was giving her a hug goodbye.

“Thanks so much for coming, Nick,” Julie said politely.

He smiled at her. “Anytime, Julie. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Luke had noticed that Nick had started calling her Julie, rather than Molina like he usually did, and it irked him. He also hadn't missed any of their shows. That kid was relentless when it came to pursuing her, but Luke was sure there was some other, real, reason he didn’t trust Nick.

Nick left and Julie turned around to see the boys. She realised they were keeping themselves unseen so she pulled out her phone and put it to her ear. “What are you guys doing? I told you to stay.”

“We’re going to, we just wanted to say goodnight,” Alex said.

Luke added, “ _And_ just say again what an awesome job you did tonight.”

She smiled at him, tucking her hair behind her other ear. “Thanks, you guys rocked, too.” Looking over Reggie’s shoulder, Julie saw her dad coming. “Okay, gotta go. Have a good night and I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Ready to go, Julie?” her dad asked, walking right through Reggie as she put her phone away.

Julie gave one more smile to the boys. “Yeah, let’s go,” she said to her dad.

Ray took her bag and flung it over his shoulder as they walked to the car. “Bye, Ray,” Reggie said with a smile and a wave. He wanted so badly to make himself visible and end the one-sidedness of his friendship with Ray, but he knew it wasn’t time yet.

Luke shook his head at Reggie and said, “Alright guys, let’s check out this band, then we’ll hit the clubs and find some more music.”

On the way back in, Luke brushed through a girl and got a weird feeling. When he looked back at her, he realised she must have felt it, too.

The girl was almost as tall as Luke, but older—definitely in her early twenties. Luke got a feeling he’d seen her before, but he couldn’t remember where.

After shaking off the weird feeling she'd had, the girl walked away, her blonde curls bouncing as she walked with purpose out of the venue.

“Luke, you coming?” Alex asked.

Luke turned back to the boys. “Yeah, wait up.”

Julie was almost at the car when her phone started ringing. “Hello?” she answered the unknown number.

“Hi, is this Julie?” a polite, female voice said. Julie confirmed it was. “My name’s Cameron, I must have missed you at your show just now, but I work for Ghosted Music. A contact at The Orpheum gave me your details.”

“Oh, yeah, I couldn’t stay,” Julie explained, trying to keep calm at the fact someone from _freaking Ghosted Music_ had called her. “School tomorrow.”

“Of course, that’s fair,” Cameron said. “Well, would it be okay to meet with you and your band mates tomorrow? After school of course. I'd love to talk to you about our group and what we can do for you.”

Julie did a little dance. “Yeah, of course. If you come by our studio, I can set up the hologram to connect with the guys. I’ll text you the address.”

“Sounds perfect, let me know what time, and I will see you then.”

“Thank you, so much,” Julie said and hung up. She suddenly wished the boys hadn’t stayed at the venue, but she didn’t have any way to tell them about the phone call until she saw them in the morning.

This was the call they’d been waiting for. Just one step closer to greatness.


	2. Chapter Two

The next morning, the boys were lazing around the studio, waiting for Julie to come down to say goodbye before she left for school. Carlos had stayed at his aunt’s last night and Ray had already left for a photo shoot, which Julie must have forgotten when the early morning quiet was suddenly broken by a scream from her room.

“Dad!”

Luke poofed up to her room right away. Julie’s room was a mess—her entire wardrobe was thrown across the furniture and the floor, and every draw in the room had been opened and tossed.

Julie was in such a panic that she hadn’t noticed Luke standing there. “Julie, what happened?” he asked.

“It’s gone,” she said, pulling out a desk drawer and turning its contents onto the desk’s surface. “I can’t find it anywhere. It’s gone, it can’t be gone.”

Luke was worried now, so he walked over and put his hand on her arm. She spun around like she hadn’t really noticed he was there. “Hey, hey,” he said, getting her to look at him. “What’s gone?”

“My necklace,” she answered. “The one with my name on it—I can’t find it anywhere. It was the last thing my mom gave me before she died. I can’t lose it.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Luke repeated, pulling Julie into a hug. “It’s okay.” He pulled away and looked her. “Where was the last place you had it?”

“At the show, definitely,” she said. “But I don’t remember if I had it on when I went to bed. It was pretty late.”

She started to panic again and Luke cupped her face in his hands. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll find it.”

“It’s fine, I can find it,” she said. “It has to be somewhere.”

“You’re right, it’ll be somewhere,” Luke told her. “But your dad will kill us if you miss any classes. So, you go, and we’ll spend the day looking for it. If it’s not here, it’ll be at the venue, and we can go look there, too.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” he promised. “Go to school, don’t worry about it. I promise we’ll find it and I will bring it straight to school for you when we do.”

She smiled at him gratefully and his heart skipped a beat.

“Thank you.”

He let go of her and tried to brush it off. “Ah, it’s nothing, got nothing better to do.”

She kept smiling at him, seeing right through his aloof attitude. They continued to lock eyes for a moment and Julie felt her panic completely subside. She trusted him completely and knew he wouldn’t stop until he got her necklace back.

“Julie! Where are you? We gotta go!” they heard Flynn yell from outside.

Luke and Julie snapped out of their daydreams.

“Oh, shoot, I’m gonna be late,” she said.

Luke picked up her school bag and handed it to her. “Alright, don’t worry about a thing.”

She gave him one last look before leaving. “Thank you,” she said again.

He smiled at her nervously and she found it impossible to stop looking at that smile—until she heard Flynn again. “Julie!”

“Go, go, go, we got this,” Luke said, practically pushing her out the door.

After Julie was gone, Luke poofed back down to the garage and told Alex and Reggie what was going on.

The girls didn’t say much on the way to school, but as they walked into the building Flynn couldn’t help but ask what had taken Julie so long to get ready.

“I couldn’t find my necklace,” Julie explained. “The one my mom gave me. I was panicking, but Luke promised he’d find it.”

Flynn gave Julie a look. “You know, just because you guys can touch, and he can make himself visible to others whenever he wants, doesn’t make him any less dead.”

Rolling her eyes, Julie said, “Will you stop that. He’s just looking for my necklace, because he’s a good friend.”

“Mhmm.” Flynn didn’t buy it for a second, but, not for the first time, she let it go. “So how was the show last night?”

“Oh my god!” Julie realized. “I totally forgot to tell the guys! Shoot. I’ll have to tell Luke when he brings my necklace to school.”

“Tell them what?” Flynn asked.

Julie lowered her voice. “Someone from Ghosted Music called me after the show last night.”

“No way!” Flynn said, a little too loud. Some passers-by looked at them and Flynn lowered her voice when she spoke again. “Like, _the_ Ghosted Music? The largest independent music group in the city?”

“That’s the one,” Julie confirmed.

Flynn’s jaw hit the floor. “I have been trying to get someone from that company to listen to you guys for months. It must have finally paid off.”

“Maybe, but she said she got my number from someone at The Orpheum, so I don’t know where she found us.”

Flynn looked like she was going to take the credit anyway. “So what did they want? Record deal? Tour? They definitely offered you a management deal at the very least?”  
Julie shrugged. “I don’t know. We didn’t talk much, she’s supposed to be coming by the studio after school, so I guess we’ll find out.”

“Who did you speak to?”

“She said her name was Cameron.” Julie pulled her books from her locker and closed it so they could make their way to their first class.

Frowning, Flynn said, “Not sure who that is, obviously not anyone high up, but still, anyone from that company coming to talk to you is _huge_. Can I be there?”

“Of course,” Julie said. “Can’t meet any industry people without our marketing manager, right?”

"It's a little ironic that of all the people to call you, it's someone from _Ghosted_ Music, though," Flynn noted an observation Julie had already made.

"I'm taking it as a sign," Julie answered.

As they walked into class, Julie grabbed for her necklace and was reminded again that it was missing. She prayed Luke would be able to find it.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you read the last two chapter before this was posted, I changed the name of the music company from The Ghosted Group to Ghosted Music (less of a mouthful to write and say)

Hours later, Alex, Reggie and Luke were practically buried in clothes in Julie’s room.

Alex walked out of Julie’s now completely empty closet. “Well, I’ve spent long enough in there that I can definitely say the necklace is not in there. Are we sure she had it when she got home?”

“She said she definitely had it at the show last night,” Luke said. He was standing on her desk checking the shelves above. It seemed ridiculous, but he was desperate to find the necklace, so he was looking everywhere. But she's not sure if she had it when she got home. She was so tired she doesn't remember taking it off."

Reggie popped up from under a pile of clothes. “Well, I definitely don’t think it’s here. So, should we go check the venue? She might have lost it in the green room when she got changed.”

Alex looked nervously at the clock.

“You meeting up with Willie?” Luke asked when he noticed.

Shrugging, the drummer said, “Nah, nah, no. Nope, Julie needs us, so let's find this necklace.”

“Alex,” Luke said, “if you’ve found time to meet up with Willie, you should go. Julie would be so upset if she knew you’d missed time with him.”

Willie had been on a tight lockdown since the boys had managed to escape Caleb’s club. Caleb was still letting Willie go out and skateboard, but he knew he was being watched a lot closer. There were few times Alex could meet up with him without Caleb finding out. Alex wanted to stay and help Julie, but he didn’t know how long it would be before he could see Willie again.

“Go, man, we’ll go check the venue,” Reggie said.

Alex smiled gratefully and poofed out.

"I hope we can figure out how to help Willie," Reggie said. "I've never seen Alex so happy."

"We need leverage or something," Luke noted, giving up searching the shelves and sitting on Julie's bed near Reggie. "Some way to force Caleb's hand."

The two stayed silent for a moment as they thought quietly. "Maybe they need to share true love's kiss," Reggie finally said. "Alex and Willie, not Caleb."

Luke smiled and shook his head. "Come on, dork," he said. "Let's go check the venue."

When they poofed inside, the venue was bustling with people setting up for another show that night.

"Damn, I hope nobody's picked it up and taken it," Luke muttered to himself. Then he said to Reggie, "You start by checking if they have a lost and found, maybe someone handed it in. Julie's gonna be finished lunch any minute so I'm gonna go let her know where we're at."

Reggie gave an amused eyeroll. "Any excuse to see her during the school day, right?"

Luke rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Nah, she's probably really worried that I haven't taken it to her yet," Luke said. It wasn't a lie, but it also wasn't the truth. "I just wanna let her know that we're still looking. You know, in case she's worried."

Smiling, Reggie said, "Alright, Romeo. But you better not leave me here to look on my own while you're making goo-goo eyes."

Luke couldn't look Reggie in the eye before he poofed out to Julie's school.

Luke was waiting by her locker when Julie got out of class for lunch. He'd gotten a lot better at not appearing suddenly and scaring her, and she was glad for it when she saw the way he was leaning against her locker in a sleeveless shirt and that sleeveless blue hoodie—it made her heart skip a beat. Then he spotted her and smiled, and her breath caught in her throat.

Julie smiled widely at him when she realized he must be there with her necklace. Luke wished he hadn't come when he saw her excited look and realized he was going to disappoint her.

"You haven't found it?" Julie said when his face changed.

Luke shook his head. "It's not anywhere in your room, but I wanted to let you know we're checking the venue right now. It's going to turn up, I promise."

Julie opened her locker with a sad look. Luke wanted to kick himself. He should not have shown up without that necklace.

"Maybe it is gone," Julie shrugged. " _Tia_ would say it's a sign or something about letting go."

Luke stood up straighter and put a gentle hand on her arm. Julie tried to ignore the chill that came over her. "Hey, that's not true," he told her. "As long as those things bring you happy memories, you don't have to let them go. That's how you keep her memory alive. Like music, remember?"

After she finished switching her books, Julie closed her locker and smiled at him. Then her face went almost to shock. “Oh my god,” she said loud enough that someone walking by looked at her. She opened her locker again and tried to bury her head in it so people couldn’t see her talking.

Luke walked around her other side. “What is it?” he asked, almost in a panic.

“Someone from Ghosted Music called me last night after the show,” Julie explained.

With a bit of a laughed, Luke said, “ _What_ music?”

Julie tried to hide her smile at his reaction. “Ghosted Music,” she repeated. “They’re a music group based in Hollywood. It’s made up of Ghosted Records, Ghosted Management, Ghosted Touring, they’re completely independently owned and they only sign local acts. A deal with them is everything we need to keep growing.”

Luke was getting excited by every word. “That sounds amazing. So what did she want?”

“She’s coming by the studio after school,” Julie told him. “So whatever happens with the necklace, just be at the studio by three-thirty. I told her I’d set up the hologram projector so she could meet all of us.”

He was staring at her again with that absolute wonder. “Uh, Reggie and I will be there, but Alex is with Willie, so I don’t know how long he’ll be gone.”

“That’s fine, don’t try to find him, if he’s not back in time, we’ll make it work.”

“Alright, boss,” Luke said when the bell rang. “I’ll see you then.” Julie smiled, but then her hand went to where her necklace should be and she looked sad again. “And don’t worry, I’m gonna find that necklace.”

Her trusting smile was all the motivation he needed before he poofed out.


	4. Chapter Four

Alex was waiting for way too long. Willie was supposed to meet him thirty minutes ago, and it wasn’t like him to be late.

Then Alex worried he might have gotten the place wrong, or the time. He was sure Willie’s last message had said to meet him at the place where they first met.

Alex’s anxiety was on the verge of a panic attack when Willie finally poofed in next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Willie in for a tight hug.

“I thought something had happened to you,” Alex said.

Willie didn’t let go to reply. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen Caleb in over a day. I wasn’t sure it was safe to come.” Willie pulled away and smiled. “But, I’m here now.”

“Wait,” Alex said, staying caught on to what Willie had said first. “What do you mean you haven’t seen him? Where do you think he is? What’s he up to?”

“I don’t know,” Willie said. Then he took Alex’s hand and the drummer felt the familiar butterflies. “But let’s get going before he comes back and realizes I’m gone.”

“Where are we going?” Alex asked. Alex didn’t really care, he would sit on a park bench and watch Willie skate all day if that’s what Willie wanted.

“Well, we always do something fun and ghostly,” Willie began to explain. Then he moved in a little closer to Alex and spoke a little quieter. “So I thought maybe today we’d do something a little more normal.”

Willie poofed them out and suddenly they were on the boardwalk. Alex smiled at Willie, excited to find out what his definition of normal was.

When Julie got home from school, no one was there. Her dad and her brother not being home yet wasn’t unusual, but when she went down to the studio and saw the boys weren’t there, she worried. There wasn’t much time until Cameron would be here.

Almost as soon as her worry began, Luke and Reggie poofed into the studio.

“Ah!” Julie cried briefly. Turns out sometimes they could still scare her. “You guys, where have you been?”

“At the venue,” Reggie said. “The band that’s playing tonight sounds really good, we should check it out.”

Luke looked at Reggie annoyed—now was really not the time. He turned back to Julie and saw the expectant look on her face. He shook his head and watched her face fall again. “We searched top to bottom, it’s not there.”

Again Julie put her hand to the place her necklace should be and it hurt Luke to see it. “It doesn’t matter right now, the girl from Ghosted is going to be here any minute. Have you heard from Alex?”

On cue, Alex appeared between Luke and Reggie. “Hey guys,” he said with a goofy grin on his face.

“Hey Alex,” Julie said. “How was your date?” She had a teasing look and tone, but Julie was so happy for Alex.

“It was . . . it was great,” Alex gushed.

“What crazy ghost thing did you guys get up to this time?” Reggie started in on the mini interrogation.

“We, uh, didn’t,” Alex explained. “We just, walked along the boardwalk. We people watched and rode some rides. He even tried to get me one of those oversized bears, but we realized we probably wouldn’t be able to get it out of there in the middle of the day. He had to go make an appearance at the club, but he asked me to meet him there tonight. He wants to show me the Ferris wheel at night.”

The others stayed quiet while Alex worked through his gushing. He was so happy they would let him gush over Willie all day if he wanted.

“So, uh, what have you guys been up to?” Alex asked, then turned to Luke. “Did you find the, uh . . .”

Alex when quiet when Luke frowned and shook his head.

“But,” Julie interrupted, not wanting to think about her necklace in that moment. “We do have something exciting to talk about.”

Julie told them her full conversation she’d had with Cameron and explained more about how Ghosted Music worked. They were discussing if they should play for her and what song they should perform when Julie got a text saying that Cameron was out the front.

The two came back down to the studio a few minutes later. “This was my mom’s studio,” Julie said as she opened the garage doors. “This is where we write and practice.”

“This is beautiful,” Cameron said.

Luke stared at the girl who walked in—it was the blonde girl he’d had that weird pass through with after Julie left last night. “Guys, I know her,” he said to the others, quietly enough that Julie wouldn’t hear. “I saw her at the show last night.”

“Yeah, Julie said she was there,” Reggie said.

“No, not just that,” Luke started to explain, but Julie was coming closer, so he let it go. “Never mind.”

That’s when Flynn arrived. “I’m here, I’m here!” she said loudly as she entered the studio. “I’m not late, I was working. Principal Lesser wants to book you guys for next month’s school dance.”

Julie loved her best friend, but her entrances were a lot sometimes. “Flynn, this is Cameron,” she said. "From Ghosted."

Flynn wasted no time, moving closer to shake Cameron’s hand and start talking about media strategies and asking who would get control of the band’s social media.

“Should I set up the projector and play something for you?” Julie finally interrupted, asking Cameron.

The older girl didn’t seem fazed by Flynn’s eagerness, but smiled at Julie. “Sounds great.”

Flynn went and got the projector while Julie set up her keyboard. When both girls were ready, Cameron sat on the couch and Julie subtly nodded at the boys.

“This is something new we’ve been working on,” Julie said, and began to play.

Cameron seemed to really like the song and when the boys appeared, she only jumped a little. Her eyes stared curiously from Luke to Alex and seemed to settle on Reggie for the longest. When the song finished playing, Cameron stood and clapped for them.

The boys kept themselves visible to introduce themselves.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Cameron said. “I think you guys are amazing and I would love to work with you.” 

“Yeah, so how does that work? What do you wanna do for us?” Luke asked. “Record deal? Management, or tour?”

“Well, actually, I’m hoping we can do all of that,” Cameron explained. “Ghosted Music was created to be a one-stop deal for artists. You negotiate all the deals separately, but it’s the same company and becomes one contract.”

“And would you be our manager?” Reggie asked.

Cameron smiled. “If you guys will have me, I’d love to. I’ll be the one who keeps the gears moving, communicates with the company for you, just like a normal manager, except everyone I’m communicating with are people I already work closely with.”

Alex said, "That sounds amazing. So what happens next?"

Cameron looked at her watch. “Right now, I have to get back to the office, but let me know when you’re next show is, and I’ll bring my boss along. If you can get his approval, we can start negotiating.”

“Sounds perfect,” Julie said.

“We just have one condition if we’re gonna start this,” said Flynn, stepping in next to Julie. “No one is allowed to ask how the holograms work. That is a tightly guarded band secret.”

Cameron laughed lightly. “Okay, sounds fair. I’ll make it clear to my boss that the hologram tech stays yours. I’ll see you guys at your next show then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was supposed to be more Willex in this chapter, but turns out I don't write cute dates well. I hope this is okay anyway.


	5. Chapter Five

Later that night, Julie couldn’t sleep. Her mind was bouncing around too much. She was upset her necklace still hadn’t been located, but so excited about everything Cameron had said. She was exactly the kind of person they’d been waiting for to help them take the next step.

All her feelings were building too much, and the only thing Julie could think to do was go down to the studio. When she walked in, Luke was lying on the couch with his notebook and a pen in his hands.

“Hey, Julie,” he said, sitting up and putting his notebook on the table. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Julie said, sitting on the couch with him. “Where are Alex and Reggie?”

“Alex went back to the boardwalk with Willie and Reggie went to check out that band we heard today. Neither of them are back yet. So what’s going on? Why can’t you sleep? Are you okay?”

“Too much going through my head.”

Luke looked at her for a moment, and then he smiled when he thought of something that might help her. “I know what you need, but you need to help me with something.”

His brilliant idea required them moving the couch outside. They put it against the garage wall next to the door.

“Okay, so why did we move the couch out here?”

“This is why,” he said, pulling the couch out flat and lay on one side of it. Julie stared at him. “Come on, trust me.” He nodded his head to the space next to him and put his hands up behind his head.

Julie lay down on her back and when she looked up to the sky, she understood what Luke was doing. “Oh my, look how beautiful that is.”

“Yup,” Luke answered. “It’s the best way I know to clear my head. I used to do this all the time with the boys. Sometimes if Alex, Reggie and I were all crashing here, the four us used to squash onto this couch and stare at the stars for hours.”

“The four of you?” Julie asked, turning her head to look at him.

“Bobby, too,” Luke answered. Mentioning Bobby didn’t make him angry like it usually did, he just looked sad. “Bobby’s was the only safe place we had some nights. You know we all had . . . not the best home life, so when we needed a break, somewhere else to go, you could always rely on Bobby.”

“This was Bobby’s house,” Julie realized out loud.

Luke chuckled. “Yeah. What, did you think we practiced in some random family’s garage?”

“I honestly hadn’t thought about it,” Julie said. “I can’t believe I didn’t know that, he never mentioned it.”

“Well, he didn’t mention a lot of things,” Luke pointed out.

“That’s why you were really upset about your music,” Julie said. “Bobby was the friend you trusted to be there for you when no one else was. You lived here after you ran away, didn’t you?”

Luke nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Julie said quietly. Luke looked at her curiously. “I’m sorry I got so mad at you for being upset, I didn’t know that Trevor betraying you was about more than music. I get it though, apparently the Wilson’s are good at letting people down.”

Luke asked, “What happened between you and Carrie?” He had always assumed her and Carrie not being friends anymore was a popularity thing, but clearly there was more to it.

Sighing, Julie answered, “I used to be in Dirty Candi.” Luke’s eyebrows shot up. “Back in elementary school when they were still the Candy Pops.”

“No way.”

“Yup. And then in middle school, I started writing more music with my mom, and I really liked it. I decided I wanted to do my own music, so I left Carrie’s group. I wanted to still be friends, I thought Carrie would be supportive, but she decided that me leaving the group meant we weren’t friends anymore. My first performance by myself at school, she came to me before the show and _said_ we were still friends, but then right before I walked on stage, she hooked my dress onto a prop side-stage and the whole thing unravelled as I walked out. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. But I went backstage, put on the jeans I'd worn to school, then went back out and performed.”

“That's rough, but I'm glad you didn't let her win. I'm sorry you had to go through that, though.”

“It’s alright,” Julie said. “Carrie’s actually been a lot better since The Orpheum show. I don't know what happened, but she actually came up to me the next day and told me she thought we did really good. And that my mom would be proud.”

Julie put a hand to her neck and moved it just as quickly when she realised it would make Luke feel guilty again. He saw it anyway.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t find your necklace,” he said again.

“It’s okay, really,” she told him. “You were right, there are other ways to hold onto her memory. I’ll always have music because of her.”

They stayed quiet for a long time. Luke stretched out his arm for her to rest her head on as they continued to watch the sky, and before long, he looked over and Julie was asleep. He smiled at her and when she rolled towards him and put her head on his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around her and closed his eyes. He didn’t sleep anymore, but next to her, it was easy to imagine the peace that came with sleeping.

When Julie woke up as the sun started to rise, she realised Alex and Reggie had joined them on the couch. The four of them huddled together was such a nice feeling, she almost didn’t want to get up. Eventually she did and reluctantly went inside to get ready for school.

Later that day, Luke appeared by Julie's locker while she was at lunch hour again.

"Hey," he said. She didn't even flinch at his sudden appearance. "I have exciting news."

Julie smiled and pulled her phone out. "What is it?" she asked excitedly once her cover was set.

"So, you know how Cameron said she wants to bring her boss to our next gig?" Julie nodded. "Well, I may have snuck us onto the list again at that place we first played _Finally Free_. For tonight."

"Really? That's awesome!" She turned toward him and beamed up at him. "I'll message Cameron before I go back to class and see if she's free."

"Awesome, so I'll see you after school for band practice," Luke said, leaning in close.

Before Julie could say anything, someone had walked up behind her, and by the look on Luke's face, she knew exactly who.

"Hey," Nick said. Julie spun around instantly and put her phone away.

"Hey, Nick," she said, feeling a little awkward that Luke was standing behind her. "What’s going on? I didn't see you yesterday.”

“Yeah, I had some stuff yesterday, so I wasn't at school. But I just wanted to say, again, what a great show that was the other night.” He was nervous, and it was adorable. He was such a sweet guy, she felt bad that she didn’t return his feelings for her anymore.

Luke was glad neither of them could see his face. He did not like that guy one bit. He wanted Julie to be happy, and she deserved a nice guy like Nick, but he would always wish it could be him.

“Oh, and I also wanted to give you this,” Nick said, digging into his pocket. “I found it at the venue the other night, but you’d already left.”

_No way_ , Luke thought. An anger rose up in him. He couldn’t have found it—that was Luke’s job. This was his chance to be the knight in shining armor, and this dumb jock was about to ruin it.

Sure enough, Nick pulled Julie’s necklace out of his pocket and held it up for her.

“Oh, Nick!” she cried out. “I thought I’d lost it, thank you so much.”

“Anytime, here,” he said, and gestured for her to turn around so he could put it on her.

When Julie turned around, she was facing Luke again and he put on his best face. He was trying _so hard_ to be happy that Julie had her necklace back, and ignore his disappointment that it wasn’t him who had found it.

Julie smiled up at Luke and pulled her hair to the side so Nick could clasp the necklace. She felt a shiver run down her neck as Nick’s fingers brushed against her. Luke looked from Julie to Nick and then the strangest thing happened. He was sure he must have imagined it, but for the shortest moment, Luke could have sworn Nick had looked right at him.


	6. Chapter Six

Flynn wanted to spread it all over social media that the band was playing at The Bistro, but Julie was adamant that it had to stay low-key.

Still, when Julie and Flynn arrived, the venue was packed. Flynn went to fight for the same spot she put the hologram projector last time and Julie searched the room for Cameron. Cameron had already told Julie she would definitely be there with her boss, but when she actually spotted the blonde with a tall man in a suit, her gut twisted with nerves. Then she felt the boys appear behind her and she felt a lot better.

“Julie, hey,” Cameron said when Julie approached.

“Hey Cameron,” Julie said as she was pulled in for a polite hug. “Thanks so much for coming. I know it was pretty last minute.”

“Of course, I’m so excited.” Then Cameron turned to the older man she was with. “This is my boss, David.”

Julie introduced herself with a handshake.

“Cameron tells me you’re the next big thing our company needs,” David said. “I’m interested to see if she’s right.”

It wasn’t the most confidence boosting thing he could have said, but Julie didn’t let it get to her. “Thank you for coming, I hope we live up to the hype.”

“He looks like a suit man, wonder if he’s ever played an instrument in his life?” Luke joked behind Julie. She had to stop herself from elbowing him in the ribs.

“Next up,” the venue host announced, “please welcome Julie and the Phantoms.”

Some people around the venue cheered excitedly.

“You got this,” Cameron said, giving Julie an assuring look.

Julie smiled at her and went up on stage. She looked at Flynn, who gave her a thumbs up, and Julie began to play the new song they’d played for Cameron earlier.

As soon as she started playing, Julie forgot all about what was at stake, and played like any other show. Whenever she spotted Cameron and David in the crowd, she would look straight to Luke, letting the way he looked at her calm her nerves before they could even surface.

When they finished playing, the boys disappeared and Julie went straight to Flynn, needing some words of encouragement before she went to speak to Cameron.

“So amazing,” Flynn said right away. “That’s easily one of my new favorite songs.”

“I think it might be mine, too,” Julie heard Cameron say behind her. Julie turned around and saw the boys looking excited behind Cameron’s boss.

“Well,” David said, leaving an air of suspense, “that was quite impressive. You and your band are definitely going places.” Julie and the boys waited with bated breath for him to continue. David turned to Cameron. “Congratulations Cameron, looks like you’ve found your first artist. Work with them, get them ready, I want to see a sold out showcase in two weeks.”

 _Showcase_. Luke knew he wasn’t the only one who had heard it. That was _huge_. The boys all high five each other excitedly.

David left and Julie and Flynn shared excited smiles. “Wait,” Julie said after a moment. “Did he say your first artist?”

Cameron gave a sheepish look. “Yeah,” she said, nervously. “I didn’t mention it sooner, but I’m not a manager at Ghosted, I’m a receptionist. I was hoping that you and I could have a mutually beneficial arrangement. You guys need a manager, and I need a band to get me doing more than coffee runs.”

“So you lied to us?” Flynn asked defensively, but Julie put a hand up.

“She didn’t technically lie, she only ever said she worked at Ghosted,” Julie said. “You’re right, though,” she spoke to Cameron, “without you it could have taken us months to get noticed by the right person. We both have a lot to gain by working together.”

Alex spoke up from Flynn’s other side. “You don’t think maybe we should consider working with someone with more experience? I mean, I don’t mind, Cameron seems like a good fit for us, but are we all in agreement that this is the right choice?”

Julie looked at him, then to Reggie, who shrugged like he was happy to entrust the decision to Julie. Then she looked at Luke.

Luke was thinking about Cameron, and the strange experience he’d had with her after the show the other night—before he knew who she was. Julie was always talking about signs, and this felt like one. He felt like they were all connected in a way they couldn’t understand yet. So he nodded at Julie. “This is the right choice.”

Julie looked at Cameron and hoped she hadn’t noticed anything unusual. “Welcome to the team, manager.”

Cameron smiled wide. “Okay, great. So I already have some ideas lined up, but first we need to focus on the showcase. David’s only given us two weeks, but I know we can pull it off. Shall I meet you at your studio tomorrow and we can start planning with the boys?”

“Yeah, totally,” Julie answered. “Weekends we’re usually up and rehearsing pretty early, so text me whatever time you’re free to come by.”

“Sounds perfect, I will see you tomorrow,” Cameron said to Julie, then she addressed Flynn. “Marketing manager, too. We have a lot of marketing ideas to discuss.”

Flynn smiled enthusiastically. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but Julie’s band getting a manager worried her that she wouldn’t be needed anymore, so she was happy Cameron wasn’t going to push her aside anytime soon.

Cameron left and all of them talked excitedly about the things to come. They discussed album ideas, cities they wanted to tour.

As they talked, Julie began to feel a weird tickle in her throat. She tried to cough it away, but it didn’t seem to work. Luke looked at her nervously, but when she broke into an all out coughing fit, he panicked.

“Jules, what’s wrong?”

The coughing only got worse and a few people around them began to notice. Julie felt like she couldn’t breathe, every cough came too quickly to allow her to breathe in more air than she was letting out. Her throat was so dry she felt like she was choking. Luke was ready to make himself visible to try and help her, when someone brought Julie a cup of water. As soon as she took the first sip, the coughing stopped and she was able to catch her breath.

“That was intense,” Reggie said. “Are you okay?”

Julie nodded. “Yeah, that was weird but I feel fine now.” She rubbed the back of her neck under her hair and continued taking slow breaths. “Maybe I didn’t warm up well enough before the show—especially after sleeping outside last night.”

“Oh no, Julie, I’m sorry,” Luke started, but she interrupted.

“Don’t be,” she said. “It was perfect, next time I’ll just remember to warm up better before performing. I am really tired though, I should get home and rest if we’re going to be busy tomorrow.”

“Good idea,” Alex told her. “Try some warm tea and honey before you go to bed, that’s what my mom used to give me for a sore throat. Works great.” Alex didn’t talk about his mom like that very often, so Julie decided it must be good advice.

“Yeah, go home and get some rest,” Reggie told her. “We’ll see you in the studio in the morning.”

Luke stood in front of Julie and put his hands on her shoulders. His face was so full of concern—she hated seeing him like that. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.

“Positive,” she answered. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He wanted to hug her, but there were still too many people around, so her let her go.

The boys watched Julie and Flynn leave and then Luke looked around curiously, noticing something for the first time.

“What is it, dude?” Alex asked.

“Nick’s not here,” he said.

Reggie responded, “So first you’re upset that he comes to our gigs, now you’re upset he didn’t?” He had that smile on his face like he thought he knew something Luke didn’t. But Luke did know, because Reggie had no subtlety when it came to talking about Luke’s jealousy.

“Kid hasn’t missed a show since we first played together,” Luke pointed out. “So why isn’t he here?” He kept searching the room but Nick was nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe he didn’t know about it?” suggested Alex.

Luke frowned. “You don’t understand, there was this weird moment at Julie’s school today. Now he’s not at a gig. I’ve got a bad feeling.”

“Yeah,” Reggie said, looking amused. “That’s called jealousy.”

“It’s not . . .” Luke started, but then realized if he said it wasn’t, the boys would definitely think it was. “Never mind, forget I said anything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this one a bit earlier because I’ll be taking a break from writing for a day or two. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wasn’t gonna write today, but then I got stuck waiting for my brother to finish school, so here you go. Thanks for reading x

It was almost lunch time when Cameron arrived at the studio and Julie was yet to make an appearance.

The boys had opened up the garage earlier that morning to let the day’s sunlight pour through the room and they were lounging around waiting for Julie when Cameron walked in.

“Hello?” she called out to the seemingly empty room.

The girl looked confused and pulled out her phone, probably to call Julie, when her phone rang.

“Mom, I can’t really talk right now,” Cameron answered.

The boys stood together in front of Cameron and looked at each other. If Cameron was here, why wasn’t Julie?

“I told you, I’m working. I’ve got a meeting all day.” After a moment of listening, Cameron continued, “Yes, with a band, Mom. . . . I told you, this is what I want, I’m old enough to make my own decisions. . . . I don’t care that it’s not what you want. . . . Yes, I know, but I’ll be okay. That’s not going to happen to me. . . . Following music isn’t what—. . . okay, I’m not doing this, I'm going now. I’ll see you tonight. . . . No, I don’t know what time. I’ll see you later. Love you.”

Cameron sighed when she hung up from the short call. The boys hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but hearing the conversation, they felt empathetic.

After writing a text, Cameron looked around and decided to sit on the couch.

“She must be waiting for Julie,” Alex pointed out. “I wonder why she hasn’t come down yet. Do you think she’s okay?”

“I don’t know,” Luke said.

“She wasn’t looking so great when she left The Bistro last night, maybe she’s sick. We should go check on her,” Reggie suggested, but Luke put a hand out to stop Reggie from going anywhere.

“If we go into her room, she’ll be so mad.” He was worried, too, but he knew how much Julie hated them showing up in her room before she’d gotten up for the day.

The three looked at each other and said in unison, “Carlos.”

They poofed into the living room where Carlos was on his laptop. After checking Ray was nowhere to be seen, they made themselves visible.

“Hey little dude,” Reggie said with a wave.

Without even looking up from his computer, Carlos said, “Who you calling ‘little’, boy band?”

Luke frowned. "How many times we gotta tell you, we're not—" Alex gave a fake cough to interrupt Luke—now was not the time.

“Have you seen Julie?” Alex asked Carlos.

“I think she’s still in bed. Dad says she’s not feeling well.”

They looked at each other again. If Julie was sick, they wanted to let her rest, but Cameron was still waiting on them and they couldn’t just appear in front of her without a plausible explanation.

“We need a favor,” Luke said.

Carlos reluctantly went down to the studio and greeted Cameron for them. “Julie’s not feeling well, but she told me to set up the projector so you could talk with the boys.”

“Oh, is she okay?”

“Yeah, just sleeping a lot. She’ll come down later if she’s feeling better.”

Carlos set up the fake projector and the boys appeared in front of it. Carlos went back inside as Cameron stared at the projector curiously, but remembered she wasn't allowed to ask questions, so she greeted the boys.

"How are you guys?" she asked. They responded with 'okay's and 'fine's and Cameron sat on the edge of the coffee table. Reggie went to get a chair, but Alex had to stop him. Reggie mouthed out an 'oh' and they all stayed standing. When Cameron realized they couldn't sit, she stood too.

"Okay, well I guess the first question is, do you know what a showcase is?"

The boys shared a knowing glance, but Luke spoke up. "Like where we play for industry people right? Make them wanna work with us?"

Cameron nodded. "Yeah, except at Ghosted, we generally want to keep everything in house, so instead of reps from fifteen different labels, ten touring companies and thirty potential managers all fighting for a deal, you'll only be playing for people who work or collaborate with Ghosted Music. Then we pack the rest of the venue with fans to prove your hype."

"And then the record deals start pouring in, right?" Reggie asked, eagerly.

"That's the plan," she answered. "Now all that's great, but the person you'll need to impress the most is Michael Garrison, he's the founder and head of the company. If he doesn't like you, you won't get any offers. But don't worry, I'm sure he'll love you like everyone else." Cameron's phone rang, but as soon as she checked the caller ID, she ignored it. "So, let's talk venues."

They spent the next hour discussing different venues around the city that would suit the showcase. Reggie's first suggestion was The Orpheum, but Cameron, while impressed by their opening for Panic! At The Disco, wasn't sure they were ready to headline there yet. She promised to get them there soon, though.

"You can answer that, if you want," Luke finally said when Cameron's phone rang for the third time and he noticed it was her mom calling.

“No, it’s fine,” Cameron said, putting the phone back in her pocket. “She just wants to talk me out of this whole manager thing. Again.”

“Oh, we know something about that,” Alex said, staring off in a memory.

Cameron gave them an inquiring look.

“Trust us,” Reggie said. “We’re the poster boys for unsupportive parents.”

“It’s not that she’s not supportive,” Cameron explained. “She wants me to follow my dreams, she does. She just wishes more than anything that my dream was to do _anything_ else. The day I realized I had no musical talent, she was thrilled. The day I found out there were other ways to make music my life, it didn’t go down well.”

“You don’t play?” Luke asked.

“I know _how_ to play , but I’m definitely not good. Also can’t hold a tune to save my life. That’s how I ended up in the business side of music. Music connects to people, even those of us who don’t have any musical talent.”

Luke could see it now. Cameron had the same passion for music as any of them and that’s what made her the perfect person to be their manager.

That’s when Alex spotted someone outside the garage. At first he thought it might have been Julie, but when Willie stuck his head around the open door, Alex jumped.

“Will . . . uh . . . sorry.” Alex looked at Cameron. “Will you excuse me? I’ll be right back.”

Alex poofed out of the garage. Then Carlos, who couldn’t see Willie and Alex standing outside, walked around the corner and grabbed Luke’s attention without letting Cameron know he was there. He was making all kinds of weird hand gestures and mouthing words at Luke. After a moment, Luke got the message—Julie was awake, and Luke was required in her room.

Luke suddenly looked terrified. Julie was going to be so mad they’d let her sleep so late. “Sorry,” Luke said to Cameron, covering his fear with a fake smile. “I’ll be back.”

He poofed out too and that left Reggie and Cameron alone in the garage.

“So,” Reggie began. “Your mom doesn’t like music much?”

“She doesn’t like the industry,” Cameron said. “Which she has her reasons for, but music is a part of me. She just doesn’t seem to get it.”

“Yeah, my mom didn’t get it either,” Reggie said. He was getting lost in his own thoughts. “When she wasn’t fighting with my dad, she was telling me I couldn’t make a stable career from music. Sometimes I wish I could show her it would have been worth it.”

“It will be worth it,” Cameron pointed out with a smile.

Reggie smiled back, but suddenly he had an ache in his heart that wouldn’t go away.


	8. Chapter Eight

“Willie, what are you doing?” Alex asked. He pulled Willie into a hug and spoke into his ear, “You shouldn’t be here, it’s dangerous.”

“I know, but I had to come,” Willie said, then pulled away from Alex. “Something’s happened with Caleb. He’s been so angry since you guys escaped the club and got rid of his stamp. Then last night he came back to the club from wherever he’s been off hiding when he’s not there, and he was in a scary good mood. Did something happen yesterday?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Alex answered. “We haven’t even seen Caleb since we escaped the club the night of The Orpheum show.”

“Alex, I’m really worried,” Willie said. He didn’t just look worried to Alex, he looked almost terrified. “Whatever he’s done, or going to do, he thinks he’s winning. I have to go, but please, be careful.”

“Yeah, of course.” Alex hated seeing Willie like this. Their worries about Caleb usually took a backseat—it was always there, but neither of them wanted it to ruin the time they got to spend together. “Listen, Willie, we’re not giving up on you, we’re gonna figure out how to free you from Caleb, too. I promise.”

“I know, hotdog,” Willie said, giving Alex a sad smile.

Alex pulled Willie in for another hug before the long haired ghost had to disappear. Whatever Caleb was up to, Willie was willing to risk everything to come and warn him, but Alex wasn’t sure if now was a good time to tell the others. At the very least he would have to stay quiet until Cameron left. Putting on a brave face, Alex poofed back into the studio.

“Sorry about that,” Alex said when he appeared. Looking between Cameron and Reggie, Alex felt like he’d interrupted a solemn moment. “Uh, where were we?”

“Waiting on Luke to come back,” Reggie answered.

Luke knocked on Julie’s door after he appeared in front of it. “Julie?” he called out.

She opened the door with a hair comb in her hand. “Luke! How could you not tell me Cameron was here? You let me sleep half the day away! Not to mention Flynn has been texting me asking when she should come over.” She walked back into the room and stood in front of her mirror.

“Carlos said you were sick,” Luke defended, walking in behind her. “Don’t worry, we handled it, boss. We got Carlos to set up the projector so we could talk to Cameron. We figured you would come down when you were ready or we could fill you in later.”

“I don’t want to be filled in later, Luke,” Julie said, pulling the comb through her hair and tying it into a low ponytail. “I want to be a part of this, it’s too important for me to miss.”

“We know this was important, but you’re more important.”

Julie stopped tying her hair mid loop and looked at him. She was still upset with him, but it was hard to stay that way when her stomach was full of butterflies from his words. She finished tying her hair and then gave herself a once over in the mirror. She didn’t look her best, but she didn’t care.

“Julie, you are more important than anything,” Luke told her, getting closer. He took her hand and she couldn’t help but stare at their intertwined hands as she revelled in the feeling. “Don’t ever for a second think that any one of us wouldn’t give up the band in a heartbeat to keep you safe. So if you need to stay in bed to get better, that’s what you should do.”

Shaking herself out of the butterflies he was still giving her, Julie said, “Well, I’m feeling fine now, so let’s go.” Then she walked out the door.

Luke didn’t believe her, but he poofed down to the garage anyway.

“Sorry,” he said upon his reappearance. “Julie’s on her way down.”

Cameron’s eyebrows creased together. “How do you know that?” she asked.

“Uh,” Luke stammered. “She sent me a text.” Was that the right way to say that? he thought. If it wasn’t, Cameron didn’t say anything.

Julie joined them a moment later and after she was caught up on the discussions she’d missed, they got stuck back into working out more details for their showcase.

Cameron didn’t leave the studio until Carlos came down to call Julie in for dinner.

“Well, good hussle today team,” Cameron said as she grabbed her bag and put it over her shoulder. “I’ll call around some of the venues we talked about and see what’s available. In the meantime, keep working on your set list, figure out which songs you want to play and keep practicing. I’ll see you guys next week once I confirm a venue and a date.”

She said goodnight to the four band members and turned to Flynn. “Need a ride, kid?”

Flynn accepted eagerly—she’d walked over after Julie was finally up and was in no mood to walk home.

“So what can I do?” Flynn asked, making her way out with Cameron.

“You can’t mention the showcase until I book a venue, but you need to keep the hype up, maybe like a teaser post that something’s coming,” Cameron explained as they walked out. “And then once we’re confirmed, you’re gonna have to market your little butt off to make it sell out.”

The boys and Julie could hear the two planning and strategizing all the way to Cameron’s car.

“How you feeling, Julie?” Luke asked after the others left.

Julie smiled. “I’m good, really. But next time, come and wake me up.”

“Sure thing,” Reggie answered and the boys said goodnight to her before she went inside.

Once Julie had left too, Luke and Reggie turned on Alex. “What’s going on with you?” Luke asked. “You’ve been acting weird ever since Willie was here.”

“Yeah, you’re acting like Luke that time he had to tell you that he ate your last piece of birthday cake,” Reggie said. 

“You said Bobby ate that piece of cake,” said Alex.

Luke turned his head and stared angrily at Reggie before looking back to Alex. “Doesn’t matter, what did Willie want?”

Alex hesitated, not sure what to say. He didn’t even know if there was anything to tell. Caleb acting different didn’t necessarily mean bad news for them, so maybe there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Alex couldn’t keep it from them, though. From Julie, he could, at least until she was feeling better, but he knew Reggie and Luke needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Much more regular updates coming. Thanks for reading x


	9. Chapter Nine

Julie got home from school on Monday with a new spring in her step. She was still feeling a little off, but it seemed to come and go, and today it was very much gone. She’d spent all day Sunday writing a new song with Luke that was going to be perfect for the showcase. And today Cameron had messaged to say she was close to booking a venue and should be able to confirm tomorrow.

Then Julie walked into the kitchen to grab a snack before practice and saw Reggie on Carlos’ laptop.

“If he catches you on that again, he’s gonna tell on you to Dad,” she told him as she went to the fridge for the juice.

As Julie poured herself a drink, she looked at Reggie and it was like he hadn’t even heard her come in.

“Reg,” she said softly, “you okay?” Leaning across the bench, Julie touched his arm lightly and he finally looked up at her with a jump.

“Oh, Julie, hey,” he said.

She’d never seen him look so serious. “Hey,” she said. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh, um, nothing, it’s nothing,” he answered, closing the laptop.

Julie gave him a concerned look. “Clearly it’s not nothing. Is everything okay?”

For a moment, she thought Reggie wasn’t going to talk about it, but then he said, “Julie, can you help me with something?”

“Anything,” she assured him.

Again, Reggie hesitated, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to ask. “Can you help me find my parents?” he finally said.

It surprised her—Reggie hadn’t really talked much about his parents with her. Luke had mentioned they were always fighting, and she knew that their house was now a bike shack on the beach, but Reggie hadn’t said anything about wanting to find them until now.

Smiling softly, she answered, “Of course.”

They left Carlos’ laptop in the kitchen and Julie took hers down to the studio. She sat on the couch, Reggie on one side, Luke on the other and Alex kind of sitting on the back, looking over her shoulder. The first thing Julie did was open Facebook.

“What is that?” Luke asked.

“Instagram for old people,” Julie said. “Everybody has one, but parents are the only people that actually use it.”

“Instagram’s the photo sharing place, yeah?”

Julie nodded. “What’s your mom’s name?” she asked Reggie sitting on her other side. Reggie told her, and Julie went searching through the profiles that came up. 

“What made you wanna do this now, dude?” Alex asked softly.

With a shrug, Reggie answered. “Cameron and I were talking the other day about her mom, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about my parents since. I just wanna know what happened to them, you know?”

It made Alex wonder if he should reach out to his parents, but the anxiety it gave him told him he wasn’t ready yet.

After a few minutes of searching and no matches, Julie asked Reggie, “Do you know her maiden name?”

Reggie had to think about it for a second. “Foster?”

“Isn’t that Cameron’s last name?” Luke asked as Julie typed. “Maybe she’s your cousin.”

“Hey, do you think so?” Reggie said excitedly. “That’d be cool.”

Alex and Luke shook their heads. “No we don’t actually think so,” Alex said. “What are the chances that a cousin you never knew about happens to want to manage our band?”

“And if it is true,” Luke added, “it’s not like you can ever tell her.”

“Yeah okay,” Reggie mumbled, disappointed. “Wait, go back,” he suddenly said to Julie. “That’s her!”

Julie pulled up the profile Reggie had pointed out. “Are you sure? That’s a completely different name than either of the ones you gave me.”

“Yeah, it’s her, but why would she change her name? Oh,” Reggie realized as soon as he said it out loud.

He looked a lot sadder after that.

Now that Julie had a name, she could do a better search and after about ten minutes, she had an address.

“Do you think we can go now?” Reggie asked.

They could make it there before dark, but they wouldn’t be back before dinner. But this was so important to Reggie, so she went in and told her dad she was going to Flynn’s for dinner.

The four of them walked up the front steps together and stood in front of the door for a moment. Julie looked to Reggie. “Are you sure you’re ready?” she asked again. She didn’t want to talk him out of doing this, but he was so nervous she didn’t want him to regret doing it before he was ready.

Reggie frowned, just the slightest, and then looked at her and nodded. He still hadn’t said a word since they’d left her house. Alex put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and Luke put an arm around him. They’d offered to stay at Julie’s and let him do this alone, but he didn’t want to be alone, he wanted his brothers.

Julie rang the doorbell.

If Reggie’s heart still beat properly, he was sure it would have stopped. He wasn’t even really sure what he was going to find inside the house, but he needed to know. It had been haunting him more and more since he’d spoken to Cameron in the studio the other day.

They all held a collective breath as they heard the door unlock. All four mouths dropped open when they saw who was on the other side of it—the last person any of them had expected to find there.

Cameron was the one who had answered the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little point A to point B, but bear with me, tomorrow’s chapter will reveal all.


	10. Chapter Ten

“Julie?” Cameron asked curiously. “What are you doing here?”

Julie couldn’t speak for a moment, the shock still having a complete hold on her. When she finally did find her voice, it was scratchy. “I was looking for—wait, what are you doing here?” she asked in return. She already suspected the answer, but needed to hear it.

“I live here,” Cameron said, like it was obvious. “How’d you find me?”

“You live here,” Julie repeated.

Reggie stared between them, completely lost. “What does that mean, she lives here? Did we get the wrong address?”

“You live here with your mom.” It was a statement, more so for Reggie’s benefit—it was all starting to make sense to Julie, and Luke and Alex.

“Well, you were almost right,” Alex said to Luke.

“Yeah, I never would have guessed this, though,” Luke replied.

Cameron’s face turned to realization the same moment that Reggie’s did. Then she said something that blew them all away even more. “Reggie’s with you, isn’t he?”

Julie’s jaw hit the floor. “How did you—”

“Who’s at the door, sweetheart?” a deep male voice called from somewhere in the house.

Looking behind her, then back to Julie, Cameron said, “We can’t talk here.” She turned back and spoke to the man inside. “It’s just a friend, I’m gonna go out for a bit, I’ll be back later.”

Cameron grabbed a jacket and her keys from inside the entryway and closed the door behind her as she stepped out. “Reggie, you can come out now,” Cameron said as she put her jacket on.

Reggie, Luke and Alex appeared directly in front of her.

“Oh, you’re all here,” Cameron said. “Good, let’s go.”

Julie and the guys followed Cameron down the street and toward the beach. When they got there, they found a secluded spot and all sat together on the sand. No one said a word for a long time.

“Have you known this whole time, who we are?” Luke was the one who asked, finally breaking the silence.

Cameron nodded, and then she took a deep breath as she prepared herself for the difficult conversation. “There’s this photo of you,” she spoke to Reggie, “on the mantel over the fireplace. It’s the only one in the house, but I’ve looked at that photo every day of my life, and every day I wonder about who you were, what kind of person. When my friend from The Orpheum sent me that video of you guys, I almost didn’t believe it, but there you were.”

“It didn’t freak you out? Seeing us seemingly back from the dead?” Alex asked.

“At first I was just confused,” Cameron said. “But then I realized that I didn’t care about the how or the why. I just wanted to know if it was real, and I wanted to know you."

Then Luke asked, “Why didn’t you tell us who you were? Why did you keep it a secret?”

“I wasn’t sure it was real,” Cameron answered. “I wasn’t sure if you’d believe me. And I thought if it wasn’t real, if you weren’t really you, then maybe I could still manage you guys, because I did really want to work with you, regardless.”

Julie looked at Reggie, and it was like she could read it all over his face. They hadn’t asked the thing he needed to hear most. They’d all worked it out, but Reggie was still processing, and Julie knew he needed to hear the words straight from Cameron to be able to sort out his thoughts.

“Wait, Cameron,” Julie interrupted wherever the conversation was about to go. “You are Reggie’s sister, right?”

Cameron looked at Julie, then to Reggie, and she could see what Julie had seen in him. He looked her in the eye for the first time and Cameron couldn’t tell if he was hopeful or terrified.

“Yes,” she told him. “I was born the year after you died.” She paused, sad she had to tell him what she was about to. “And Mom and Dad were divorced before my first birthday. He didn’t really want another kid, and he always had this thing about how I was never going to replace you. I’d see him occasionally when I was younger, but we never got along very well. Eventually we stopped talking, because every time we did, it always ended in fighting. I haven’t seen him in almost ten years.”

“That’s why you go by Foster?” Julie asked, remembering how Cameron had her mom’s maiden name.

“I changed it when I was still a kid," Cameron explained. “The only thing my dad ever really gave me was his name, and I didn’t want it if he didn’t want me. Mom always just saw me as her kid, not a replacement or a second chance. So, I changed my name. It was only really ever me and her until she met Mark when I was twelve. She took his name when they got married a few years ago.”

Reggie stood up and took a few steps away from them, not taking his eyes off the ocean. His family as he knew it was gone, finally broken after so many years of fractures. He couldn’t look at Cameron as he tried not to cry—his heart broke for her. He knew what his dad was like. He wasn’t a perfect husband, and he wasn’t a perfect father, but at least he’d been around for Reggie.

Cameron stood up and walked over to stand behind Reggie. “You have always been a part of me,” she said through tears. “I know this isn’t the happily ever after you wanted to hear, and I wish I could tell you that things worked out and your family was still in one piece, but it’s not. But I hope that I’m enough anyway.”

He turned around to look at her, then he looked at his band mates sitting on the sand behind her. Luke was right, he realized.

“This is my family,” he finally said to Cameron, and she turned to look at the others, too. Reggie put an arm around her. “You’re part of this family now, too. And we’re the only family we’re ever gonna need,” he repeated words Luke had said to him many times before.

She smiled at him and he pulled her in for a hug. Julie, Luke and Alex stood up and ran over to join them.

“I have a sister,” Reggie said with a smile as his friends squished in close.

After a moment, he pulled away and turned to Julie with a new realization. “I have two sisters!” he said with so much joy it made Julie’s heart swell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how do you feel about the Cameron reveal?   
> Let me know what you’re thinking!
> 
> This chapter was a little bit later than I planned, but the next one is almost ready so it should be up pretty soon. Thanks for reading x


	11. Chapter Eleven

Julie and the boys spent dinner at Cameron’s house and Julie got to know Reggie’s mom, Victoria. Reggie had never seen his mom look so happy in all his life and it made all the fighting and yelling he’d grown up with seem like a distant memory.

The following day, Cameron got to the studio just before Julie got home from school.

“So, the good news is, I’ve booked the showcase venue,” she said as soon as she walked in, before the boys had even appeared.

They made themselves visible and gave excited cheers and praise to their manager for pulling it off.

“Wait,” Alex interrupted. “If there’s good news, does that mean there’s bad news?”

“Alex, why you gotta bring the mood down?” Luke asked with a frown.

“He’s not wrong,” Cameron spoke first. “It’s not really good or bad, just . . . additional information.” They waited for her to say it. “The only date I could get was the twenty-fifth.”

“That’s on the weekend, that’s what we wanted. What’s so bad about that?” Reggie asked.

Alex and Luke had gone pale.

“You do know what date that is?” Alex asked Cameron.

She grimaced. “Yeah, I tried to avoid it, but it was the only night I could get on such short notice.”

“Oh wait, guys, the twenty-fifth is the same night that—”

“We know, dude,” Luke told him, putting a sympathetic hand on his bass player’s shoulder.

“Are you guys gonna be okay?” Cameron asked when their faces all dropped.

After the world’s longest hesitation, they all gave a very unconvincing round of ‘yeah’s.

“Does Julie know? What date that is?” was Cameron’s next question.

They all looked at each other and shook their heads.

“We shouldn’t tell her either,” Luke said. “It might freak her out.”

They agreed they would wait until closer to the show to tell Julie. When she got home from school, they gave her the good news and had band practice as usual while Cameron sorted out getting tickets on sale.

After practice, Julie invited Cameron to stay for dinner. “You need to meet my dad,” the teenager explained. “He just wants to make sure you’re not a sleazy Hollywood scammer trying to take advantage of me.”

Cameron laughed. “Alright, let’s definitely convince him that that’s exactly what I plan to do,” she said jokingly.

Ray and Carlos were seriously impressed with Cameron. She made them laugh, and engaged in Ray’s work talk, and was impressed when Carlos talked about how good he was at baseball—she was the perfect dinner guest. After they ate, Ray insisted Cameron could stay for dinner whenever she liked.

“Parents love me,” she said when Julie and the boys were walking her to her car. “It’s a special skill.”

“Well that special skill is gonna go a long way to getting dad to let me keep doing the band thing,” Julie said. “If he likes you and he trusts you, you can keep him from pulling the plug, and maybe even convince him to let me go on tour.” Julie said the tour thing as a bit of a joke, not actually expecting any touring to be happening for a while.

“Your dad loves the band,” Cameron told her. “And he loves how happy it makes you. It would take a lot to make him take that away from you. And school finishes in a few weeks, so if we can get a couple tour dates over the summer, I’m sure we can convince him to let you go.”

“You really think we could get a tour that soon?” Luke asked excitedly.

Cameron smiled. “Maybe a few dates as an opener for someone. We’ll just have to see how the showcase goes.”

The boys gave each other excited looks at the thought of going on tour. Julie was excited, but she was also mentally preparing the conversation she was going to have about it with her dad.

“I’ll meet you guys here tomorrow, with Flynn,” Cameron said as she climbed into her car. She started the car and put the window down. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do. Night guys.”

“Yes, ma’am, see you tomorrow,” Luke said. After Cameron left, Luke bounced around excitedly. “I say we go practice some more, I am way too hyped.”

“I can’t,” Julie said. “I’ve got homework. That’s the deal, remember? Practice until dinner, then homework.”

Alex and Reggie poofed straight to the garage—neither of them wanted to be in the middle of that discussion, and Alex had a date anyway.

“Come on,” Luke said, grabbing Julie’s hands and dancing her around a little. “Aren’t you excited? We’re playing a showcase!”

Julie was trying to be serious, but she was laughing too much for it to work. “Yes, I’m excited, but if you want my dad to let us go on tour, I have to get my homework done.”

“Just one song,” Luke said. “Maybe two,” he added with a cheeky grin, which made Julie laugh.

Luke had now pulled her in close with one hand in hers, the other at the small of her back, and he was dancing her around in a little circle, still bouncing with excitement. It wasn’t anything as fancy as the dance she’d imagined in her head, but it was almost better, because this was real.

Eventually Luke stopped dancing and was just looking at her, smiling. She wondered if he knew how fast her heart was beating. He was bringing his face closer, so slowly she almost didn't even notice he was doing it. Their faces were so close their noses almost brushed, but he didn't dare move closer, the ball was in her court now.

Julie suddenly started to feel sick, not like the tingly butterflies she usually got in moments like this, this was like the butterflies had turned to rocks bouncing around inside her and she was physically ill. She didn’t want Luke to worry though, so she pulled away.

“I have to go,” Julie said, forcing a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Luke let her go with a frustrated sigh. _Maybe one day_ , he thought to himself.

The top of the Ferris wheel had quickly become Alex’s favorite spot, and he was glad when Willie had asked to meet him here. At the very top, he could see nothing but ocean right out to the horizon on one side, and on his other side, the lights were ablaze with everything the city had to offer.

Willie appeared beside him and Alex was so full of exhilaration that he did the thing he’d been waiting for all these weeks. He held Willie’s face in his hands, and when the other boy didn’t pull away, he brought their lips together in the kind of explosive moment that Alex thought only existed in fiction.

Kissing Willie felt like fireworks, and church bells, and birds singing and every other romantic cliché he could think of.

“Hey, hotdog,” Willie greeted properly when they finally let go of each other. He was grinning from ear to ear. “That was new, and very bold. Not like the anxious guy I know at all.”

Alex put his arm around Willie as they sat and watched the world go round as the Ferris wheel moved. “What’s there to be anxious about?” Alex said. “Right now, in this moment, everything is perfect.”

“Perfect, huh?” Willie asked.

“Yup,” Alex replied with an entirely un-Alex like confidence. “Band is about to take off, Reggie just found his sister, Julie and Luke are writing killer music, and I’ve got you. I’m telling you, everything’s pretty perfect right now.”

“Wait, Reggie has a sister?” Alex nodded. “You have got a lot to catch me up on,” Willie laughed. “But first, do you think we can do that other thing some more?”

They smiled wide at each other and brought their lips together again. Willie let himself get completely lost in the kiss, allowing it to make him forget all about why he had needed to see Alex in the first place. In this moment, the rest of the world melted away and all Willie knew was the feeling of completely belonging to Alex, even if it wasn't for much longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I will not be taking questions on that ending. All will be revealed in time . . .
> 
> Thanks for reading x


	12. Chapter Twelve

The venue Cameron had booked for the showcase was a sweet place just off Sunset Boulevard that she thought was just the right size for the band, and she was organizing a list of Ghosted people who were going to be there.

Flynn was blazing through the marketing campaign and the public tickets were over half sold out in just a few days. Meanwhile, the band were spending every spare minute they had practicing.

Julie was even spending her lunch hour every day in the music room so she could practice. That’s where she was one day the week before the showcase when Nick found her.

“Hey, Julie,” he said, poking his head through the door.

“Hey, Nick.”

“Was that you playing? It’s sounding really good,” he said. “Is that for the showcase?”

“Yeah,” Julie smiled. “You heard about that, huh?”

“Everybody has,” Nick told her. “Flynn has not stopped posting about it. Already got my ticket.”

“That’s great. I’ll see you there.”

“How are you, by the way?”

Julie looked curiously at him, but answered, “I’m okay, never better.” It was a lie, but she didn’t want Nick to know that.

The truth was she hadn’t been feeling that great since the night of The Bistro show. Most of the time, she could pretend that she felt okay, but she didn’t feel like she was getting any better. She couldn’t tell the boys or Cameron though, not with so much on the line with the showcase.

Nick came and sat next to her at the piano. He began to play and Julie was surprised. In all the time that she’d known him, she never knew that he could play the piano.

“You have something,” Nick said, stopping the melody he was playing, “in your hair.”

He reached up and pushed her hair back over her shoulder. His fingers brushed over her neck and she felt a shiver run through her.

“Got it,” he said, but Julie had no idea what he’d pulled from her hair.

Julie realized what was happening and had to find an excuse to leave. Nick was still trying to shoot his shot, but it was no use. She still didn’t feel connected to him like she did with her certain ghost band mate.

Luckily for her, the bell rang and she could bail. “See you in class,” she said awkwardly, picking up her bag and leaving.

“Hello?” Cameron called out, walking into the studio. “Anybody here?”

Luke appeared on the couch, holding his guitar, a pen in his mouth and his notebook on the table in front of him. “Hey,” he said, the pen still in his mouth.

“Just you here?” Cameron asked.

Luke took the pen out of his mouth. “Yeah,” he told her. “Alex likes to get out of the house when Julie’s at school, and Reggie is inside practicing on Carlos' game console thing. He has this idea that one day he’ll beat Carlos at whatever game they’re always playing.”

Cameron smiled with a short laugh.

“I can go get him if you want?” Luke offered.

“Oh, no, it’s okay,” Cameron told him. “I’ll just stay here and get some work done if that’s alright?”

Luke nodded, but looked at her curiously. “What’s up?”

With a sigh, Cameron explained, “They’ve brought in a temp to cover my duties while I work on this showcase, so I don’t have a space to work at the office. I’ve been working from home, but . . .”

“Your mom is driving you crazy?” Luke guessed.

Cameron walked to the couch, putting her bag down with a thud and collapsing onto the couch next to where Luke was sitting. “She’s gotten so passive aggressive about the whole thing. She has this crazy idea that pursuing music is the reason Reggie, all of you, died, and that if I keep doing this, it will happen to me too.”

“Yeah, those tainted hotdogs are sneaky,” Luke said, putting his guitar aside. “They’re just lurking around every corner, waiting to take down anyone wanting a career in music.”

It made Cameron laugh, but her smile was still a little sad. “How come you guys don’t just stay visible all the time if you can do that now?”

“It takes a lot of concentration,” Luke explained. “It’s not a switch, more like a button we have to hold down. It’s getting easier, but it takes more energy to choose to be visible. The only time we still don’t have to think about it is when we’re playing with Julie.”

Cameron smiled, and then looked at Luke’s notebook. “So, what are you working on?”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” Luke said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Come on, let me see,” Cameron encouraged, putting her hands out. Luke handed her the notebook and as she took it, a loose page fell out. Cameron picked it up. “What’s this one?”

“Probably one of Reggie’s country songs,” Luke laughed. “He’s always slipping them in there.” Luke words faded off when he saw Cameron’s face turn serious as she read the page. 

Luke looked over and began to read too. “Oh, I think Reggie and Alex both wrote this,” he said.

“Why did they leave it in your notebook?”

“They probably wanted me to help them finish it, but didn’t know how to ask.”

Cameron concentrated on the page and Luke got the feeling she was getting an idea. “If we finish this,” she began to ask, “can you teach me to play it? Without the others finding out?”

Luke gave her an admiring half smile. Whatever she was planning, he was more than happy to help. “Yeah, sure.”

When Julie got home from school, she heard music coming from the studio and went straight there. She was surprised to find Cameron was the one with the guitar.

“What’s going on here?” Julie gave them a curious smile.

“Luke’s teaching me to play,” Cameron said. “Or trying to. My uncle gave up years ago, I’m sure it won’t take Luke long.”

That made Julie laugh, but it looked like the effort to do it took all her energy. “Well, I’m so exhausted,” she said. “I know we need to practice, but I think I need to get some sleep.”

“Are you okay?” Luke frowned. She had that look again, the one she had last time they’d played, and he didn’t like it. “Is it still that same thing? You said you were feeling better.”

“I’m okay, really,” Julie assured them. “I’ve just had a lot going on, with practice, and the showcase, and finals coming up. I just need a recharge.”

“Yeah, of course,” Cameron said. “I’ll head off and leave you guys to it.”

“No, no,” Julie said. “You stay here and the boys can practice. As long as someone’s down here, Dad won’t get suspicious.”

Cameron nodded. “Okay, well you go get some rest and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

After Julie left, Cameron looked to Luke.

“Do you really think she’s okay?” he asked her.

“No,” Cameron answered honestly. “But, maybe she’s right and she just needs some rest. She’s just a kid, and she doesn’t have the option of dropping out of school, like you did."

Luke gave a wondering look like Julie dropping out of school wasn't the worst idea.

"She's not like you guys," Cameron said. "School is important to her, and she promised her dad and aunt she'd keep up her studies. She might really just be stressed, but all we can do right now is just keep an eye on her and be there when she needs us, even if that means stepping in to stop her from burning out.”

Luke didn’t like it, but he knew Cameron was right. He just hoped that if Julie did need them, she would ask before it was too late.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

The night before the showcase, Julie came down to the studio after Ray and Carlos had gone to bed.

As soon as she walked in and looked at Luke, he knew what she was thinking. The four of them dragged the couch outside and piled onto it together. They stared up at the stars and talked about all the things that the showcase would lead to. They didn’t play into their nerves, they didn’t discuss the things that could go wrong or what would happen if no one liked their music. They only talked about albums and tours and movie deals and the artists they wanted to collaborate with. Reggie’s top pick was Prince and he was devastated when Julie had to tell him it wasn’t going to happen.

“Where do you think ghost Prince hangs out? Maybe we can find him,” Reggie suggested, making them all laugh.

“I know you guys are nervous,” Julie said. “After you were so close to playing your last showcase, but I promise, it’s gonna be different. Nothing is going to stop us, we’re family.”

Luke looked over Julie’s head at Alex and they silently agreed that now was not the time to tell her how similar to last time it already felt.

After Julie fell asleep on Luke’s arm, the three of them watched the stars in silence for a long time.

“It’s not like last time,” Alex said quietly. He was trying to sound like he was saying it to reassure Luke and Reggie, but Luke could hear it—Alex was trying to calm his own anxiety.

“We got this, dude,” he said with all the confidence he had. “Julie’s right, it’s not like last time.”

Luke looked at Julie, still asleep on his arm, and then he put his other arm under his head. He stared at the stars and repeated to himself, over and over again, _it’s not like last time_.

“Hey Jules,” Cameron said as she entered the studio the following morning. “Boys here?”

As soon as she said it, Luke, Alex and Reggie made themselves visible.

She smiled at them and hung her dress up ready for later. “Everyone excited for tonight?”

Julie answered, “Yes,” enthusiastically, but the boys looked at each other nervously.

“I think we’ll feel better once we’re on stage,” Alex explained.

“How come you don’t look excited?” Luke asked Cameron with a serious look.

Cameron clasped her hands together and looked nervous about her next words. “I am excited,” she told them. “But there’s somewhere I need to be first.” Cameron paused for a moment and looked even more nervous to ask them, “And I was wondering if you’d all like to come with me?”

Julie looked at the boys. She had no clue what was going on, but could tell by the looks on their faces that they had an idea where Cameron wanted them to go.

Nobody spoke a word the entire drive. Cameron and Julie sat in the front and the boys were squashed into the back seat of Cameron’s tiny hatchback. Luke spent the entire drive wishing he had told Julie the significance of today, but now he didn’t know how to bring it up.

When they arrived to their destination, Julie figured it out. “Today’s the day isn’t it?”

Cameron looked at Julie and nodded. 

Julie turned back to look at the boys. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

They looked at each other with guilty looks, and then Luke said, “We didn’t know how. We didn’t want to worry you or make you nervous.” 

She looked at him like she understood, but she still wished he’d said something. 

Cameron looked up the hill and then gestured for all of them to get out of the car and follow her. They walked up the hill past the many rows of headstones, but the ones they were looking for were right at the top.

As they approached, Julie began to recognize the faces of the people gathered. The first person Cameron walked up to was Emily.

“Cameron, dear,” Emily said, and they embraced in a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m good, how are you?”

Mitch joined them and greeted Cameron as well, then that’s when Luke’s parents noticed Julie standing behind her.

“Julie?” Emily asked. “What are you doing here?”

Cameron answered first. “Julie and I have been working together on her music. When I found out she writes in the boys’ old studio, I thought she would like to be here.”

Emily looked so pleased. “Well, isn’t it funny how these things work out. I’m so glad your music is working out for you Julie.”

“Excuse me,” Cameron said to them and walked away to greet her mother. Reggie and Alex followed her, leaving Luke with his parents and Julie.

“I am so happy for you, Julie,” Emily began. “I’m glad that you’ve found Cameron and that you’re chasing your dream like Luke did. I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but I was always too busy worrying about Luke to ever just be _proud_ of him for going after what he wanted. I wish everyday that I had been. So I am so proud of you, and Cameron.”

“Thank you, so much,” Julie said with a sad smile.

Luke thought that after Julie had taken his song to them, that he’d had a huge weight lifted from his heart, he thought it was gone. But hearing his mother’s words, he felt it lift a little more. Maybe he’d never truly let go of the guilt that he felt, but he hoped she would. 

Nearby, Cameron had greeted her mother, and had moved on to Alex’s parents where Julie and Luke joined her. As much as Luke wanted to stay with his parents, he knew his band mates probably needed him more right now.

“Julie, these are Alex’s parents, Henry and Fiona,” Cameron said. “This is Julie,” she told the older couple. “She lives in the house where the boys used to practice. We’ve been working together on her music.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” they both greeted Julie.

“I’m so sorry about what happened to your son,” Julie said politely. She was doing a good job of pretending to be a perfect stranger, but her friends could see how much it was hurting her.

“Thank you, dear,” the older woman said. After a quiet moment, Alex’s mother said absently, “Twenty-five years and it still feels like yesterday. Do you think he ever would have forgiven us?” she finished to Alex’s dad.

“I’m not mad at them,” Alex said quietly to Julie. “I never was. I always knew they still loved me, they just forgot how to show it after I came out. They didn’t understand that I was still me and they could love me the same as they did before. But I know they would have, eventually, if they’d had the chance.”

Julie wished she could tell them what he’d said. She wished she could bring Alex and his family closure like she’d done for Luke and his parents. Thinking about that though, Julie thought of something she could say.

“I didn’t know Alex,” Julie said, hating that she had to start her sentence on a lie. “But I feel like I’ve learned a lot about him recently, and I believe that he would have forgiven you, for whatever happened. I think he knew you still loved him, no matter what.”

Alex’s mother almost smiled through her tears. “Thank you dear, that’s very kind of you.”

Alex’s parents walked away towards Luke’s parents and Cameron put and arm around Julie. “You’re doing fine,” she reassured the younger girl.

Julie looked at Luke and he suddenly had a look of anger. “Who invited him?” he asked, looking behind Cameron and Julie.

A new person had arrived, the last person any of them expected to see there. Cameron was expecting him though, which shocked them even more.

She walked over and greeted the newcomer with a hug. “Thanks for coming, Uncle Trevor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaaaaat? Trevor/Bobby is here?! What do you think is gonna happen?
> 
> I feel like this chapter was packed with a fair bit of stuff, so what did you think?


	14. Chapter Fourteen

“Uncle Trevor?!” the boys all said in unison.

Julie looked to see the boys looking as gobsmacked as she felt.

“Julie,” Trevor stammered when he noticed her there. “What are you doing here?” 

He was terrified to see her, which wasn’t surprising. They had all known he’d been at The Orpheum show with Carrie, but when he never came looking for them, asking all sorts of questions about her band, they figured he was ignoring it to stop his secret from getting out.

Now he was here, and Julie didn’t know what to say.

“Julie,” Alex began, “what’s going on? Cameron knows him?”

“Apparently well enough for him to be Uncle Trevor,” Reggie pointed out, anger seething through his voice.

Julie shook her head to tell them she didn’t know.

“Julie and I are working together,” Cameron explained to Trevor when Julie stayed silent. “Her band is my first management opportunity. She’s gonna help me move out of reception at Ghosted and I’m gonna make them the biggest band on the planet.” Cameron finished with a joking wink, but Julie couldn’t laugh.

Trevor turned to Cameron. “You’re working with her band?” he asked. “So you’ve met them?”

_Cameron doesn’t know_ , Luke realized. However she knew Bobby, she didn’t know he was in Sunset Curve, and by the look on Bobby’s face, he was terrified she had found out.

“Yeah, nice guys. Swedish or something, right Julie?” Cameron said innocently.

Julie grinned awkwardly. “Yeah.”

Alex was too shocked to enjoy the humor in the moment, but he knew it was there—none of them knew who knew what and they were all trying to keep the same secret from each other.

“Cameron, we’re gonna start,” her mother came over and said. “Hello Trevor, good to see you again.”

Trevor nodded to Victoria in greeting and they started to walk over to the three graves lined up together.

“Hey Reggie, you okay?” Luke asked when Reggie didn’t follow the others.

“My dad’s not here,” Reggie answered, looking right out across the cemetery. “Everyone, even Bobby, is here, except my dad.”

Luke put a sympathetic hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, dude. I know finding out what happened with Cameron was hard.”

“It’s fine, no big deal,” Reggie said, forcing a smile. “Come on, let’s go.”

Luke watched Reggie go, knowing that he wasn’t fine, but there was nothing he could say.

Julie joined Luke after Reggie left. “Do none of them know that Trevor is Bobby?” she whispered to him as they walked along together.

“After Bobby joined the band in high school, we were always at the studio at his place,” Luke told her. “He never met any of them before we died, so we just figured none of our parents even knew that we knew him.”

Julie’s eyebrows creased into a confused frown but she wasn’t able to say anything to Luke when Cameron walked over to the headstones where a guitar was leaning against Reggie’s.

Alex and Reggie were already standing in front of the stones and Luke poofed over next to them to look for himself.

The three headstones were practically identical, each of them had their names, birth date, and the day they died. There was one particular similarity on each stone that struck the boys most. The put their arms around each other and stared at the one word that brought tears to their eyes. None of them had siblings when they’d died, but there, at the bottom of the headstones, underneath ‘beloved son’, was one solitary word— _brother_.

“Thanks everyone for coming,” Cameron began as she picked up the guitar and put the strap over her shoulder. The boys stepped back to stand near Julie.

“She said she couldn’t play,” Reggie said quietly.

“She said she couldn’t play _well_ ,” Alex pointed out.

“That’s why she asked me to teach it to her,” Luke said to himself. The others looked at him.

“It’s never easy, but twenty five years, I thought it would be nice to all come together. I’ve learned so much about the boys these last few weeks and I found this song they wrote together. So, we all know I don’t have their talent, but let’s give this a go.”

Cameron began to play and Julie could see how much concentration it was taking. When she was about to start singing, she faltered, losing her place. Reggie appeared beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. She couldn’t see him, but when she felt it, she knew he was there, and she was able to start again.

When Cameron started to sing the first verse, Reggie sung with her, never letting his hand move from her shoulder.

_I lie awake and listen  
As it starts again tonight  
Screaming and crying  
Another unwinnable fight  
But I lie awake and listen  
And I feel it in my bones  
If you had no care left to give  
You wouldn’t be throwing these stones _

Then Alex started to sing. He walked around beside his parents and could only watch as his mother cried and his father held her close.

_All I wanted was to make you proud  
But when the truth came out that changed  
And suddenly there seemed to be  
So many less words exchanged  
Spent my days fighting for  
A love I wasn’t sure could grow  
But I always saw it in your eyes  
That love caught in the undertow_

Cameron skipped the chorus to the bridge, and Luke sang with her the lyrics he added to the song when he was teaching it to Cameron. The other boys didn’t know and hearing him sing those lines ached their hearts.

_Life will carry on  
But it won’t be the same  
Now that we’re gone_

When the boys all joined Cameron for the chorus, the words poured into Julie’s heart and she began to cry too.

_But like the web of a spider, broken by the wind  
We keep weaving the strands and come back again  
I don’t know what I’d do, if I didn't have you  
Don’t think that I’d have the strength to pull through  
So wherever we go, and however life tears us apart  
You’ll always have a home in my heart_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! I wrote a song! Well, I wrote what is essentially a poem that could be put to music, but still, I worked so hard on it, I hope it reads okay because it doesn't exactly have a tune (I'm a writer, not a musician). I also may have lifted a small section directly from another song (the bridge, it was the bridge), but man it was so hard to write, I definitely needed the help.
> 
> Anyway, I need a few days off from posting as I work on the next section. I haven't got the clearest picture in my head of how it's all going to go down, but I'll be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, why not recommend this fic to a friend? I sure would appreciate it!
> 
> Thanks for reading x


	15. Chapter Fifteen

When Cameron finished singing, Julie looked at everyone gathered and they were all in tears. Julie had no idea that Alex and Reggie were hurting so much as well. They’d so selflessly told her about Luke and his parents so that she could help him through his pain, but they’d never mentioned how they felt about their own families.

When Cameron finished, she put the pick she’d been using on Reggie’s headstone. Her mother walked over and placed down the flowers she’d brought with her. Alex and Luke’s parents walked over and placed flowers of their own.

Then Trevor pulled out three of his own flowers from his back pocket that no one had noticed and placed one each with the others. Julie watched in confusion as he place three identical dahlias on the ground. What an odd choice of flower, she thought. It couldn’t be a coincidence, right?

Cameron and Julie were saying goodbye to the parents and when they turned around, Trevor was already gone.

“Come on,” Cameron said, putting a comforting arm around Julie. “Time to go, don’t want to be late.”

Julie turned back as they walked away and saw the boys taking one last moment with their families. She could see how badly they wanted to talk to their parents again, but she could also see the weight that had been lifted from them—especially Alex and Reggie.

“Cameron,” Reggie spoke in a very quiet voice. He wanted to ask about their dad, if she’d asked him to come, but it felt like a conversation for just the two of them. Then he looked at Luke and Alex on either side of him and knew there was a question they all needed answered. “How do you know Trevor?”

Cameron creased her eyebrows and looked at him in the rear view mirror. None of them had said a word since they got in the car, and it wasn’t what she was expecting when conversation started again.

“He’s become a good family friend,” she told him. “When I was like, five or six, Mom and I were living in this crappy one bedroom we were about to get evicted from. Trevor showed up and said he’d known you guys in high school. He said that you were the reason he got to where he was, so he wanted to share his success with your families. He gave us the money to buy the house so we wouldn’t have to worry about having a roof over our heads anymore.”

The boys all looked at each other in shock. What Bobby had done to them had seemed so unforgivable, and it didn’t explain why he’d stolen their music in the first place, but maybe he’d really tried to make up for it. 

“He didn’t tell you he was in Sunset Curve?” Alex asked.

Cameron frowned. “He specifically told me that he wasn’t.” They could all see her processing what she’d been told. “Why would he lie about it?”

The boys all exchanged guilty looks.

Cameron had clearly admired Trevor her whole life, and he’d been there for her and her mom when they needed him most. He was the reason she had gotten into music, the person who had probably made her feel most connected to her brother when she was growing up. None of them wanted to shatter her view of him.

“Trevor’s real name is Bobby, and all of his early albums were Sunset Curves songs,” Julie finally said quietly, saving the boys from deciding who had to break it to Cameron. “He stole them and claimed them as his own.”

Cameron looked at Reggie in the rear view and he could see the shock and confusion. She was begging him to say it wasn’t true. He only nodded as he looked away from her. She had to pull the car over as her breathing became heavy.

Feeling like she was suffocating, Cameron got out of the car. Her whole world felt like it had come crashing down around her. The others got out and watched as she paced up and down the side of the road. She knew they wouldn’t lie to her, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“Trevor bought me my first guitar,” she said through heavy breaths. “He taught me to play, he got me the job at Ghosted when I said I wanted to manage bands. He was the closest thing to a brother I ever had. He’s my _Uncle_ Trevor!”

Cameron was crying now, and as she collapsed to her knees and struggled for air, Alex came and held her, recognizing the signs of a panic attack.

“He is your Uncle Trevor,” Luke said. “This whole time we thought he stole the only thing we had to leave behind in this world, and didn’t even care.”

“But he did care, he must have,” Reggie added. “He was there for you and Mom and all our families, even if he lied about it.” Reggie had been so angry at Bobby when they’d learned what he’d done, but knowing now how he’d helped Cameron and their mom, Reggie wasn’t sure if he could still be mad. 

Julie could only watch helplessly as the truth about Trevor was tearing her friend apart, and she decided, no matter what happened or how mad she got, Julie could never, ever tell Carrie the truth about her dad. As much as her and Carrie didn’t get along, Julie could never cause her old friend that kind of pain.

They would have let Cameron stay on the side of the road all afternoon until she was ready, but in less than five minutes, she took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and let it go as she got to her feet.

“We don’t have time for this,” she said, wiping away her tears. “We’ve got a show, big show. Let’s go.”

“Cameron, are you sure—?” Alex said, putting and hand on her shoulder.

She brushed him off with another deep breath. “I’m fine, really. There are more important things to worry about first.”

Back at Julie’s house, Cameron got changed into the outfit she’d brought with her that morning, while Julie got her clothes ready to change into at the venue.

When Cameron joined the band in the studio, she said Ray was asking to see his daughter, so Julie ran back inside the house quickly and Cameron immediately turned to the guys.

“Did you know Julie’s sixteenth birthday is next week?” she asked them in a harsh but hushed tone.

They all looked at each other in complete bewilderment. “No,” they all said with guilty looks.

“Her dad and Flynn have been planning a surprise party for her, and Ray wanted to ask if you guys would maybe do a song or something, but Flynn said she didn’t know how to ask you guys without Julie finding out, so he asked me.”

“This is all news to us,” Alex said. Then him and Luke gave Reggie an annoyed look. “You spend more time in the house with Ray than anyone, did you know about this?”

Reggie looked completely innocent, but said, “It’s a surprise party, Ray said not to say anything!”

“Yeah, _to Julie_ ,” Luke said, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You’re _supposed_ to tell us!”

They all looked to the studio door when they heard the gate and knew Julie was coming back.

“We’ll discuss later,” Cameron said. The boys went invisible and Cameron walked toward the door and they tried to look casual, like they hadn’t just been talking about Julie.

When Julie came back down from the house ready to go, Luke, Alex and Reggie gathered in the middle of the room.

Julie walked to the boys, then turned back to Cameron. “Hey,” she said, catching Cameron’s attention. “Band circle,” she told their manager with a nod of her head.

The boys became visible again as Cameron smiled and walked over to join them. They all held hands and the boys and Julie looked at Cameron expectantly.

“What you got for us, manager?” Luke said.

Cameron’s eyes widen for a moment, not realizing she was expected to lead this. “Everything you have done and been through has led to tonight. And whatever happens, you should be so proud of yourselves. You’re gonna blow them all away.”

Reggie squeezed his sister’s hand a little tighter, but didn’t have the words, so Luke spoke instead. “Cameron, you’ve been just what this band needed, we couldn’t have made it this far without you. We’re gonna make you proud, promise.”

“I already am,” she smiled, looking to each of them.

Then Luke looked straight to Julie. “Julie,” he said, “You’re our star, get out there and shine bright.”

Alex, Reggie and Cameron all exchanged knowing glances, but didn’t say anything else. They all put their hands in and chanted, “Legends,” as had become tradition before every show.

They were all sharing a group hug and laughing with each other, so no one noticed that they weren’t alone in the studio anymore.

“Julie?” a familiar voice said.

The five of them froze, too scared to look and confirm that it was really him. After a moment, they broke their hug and turned to face the last person any of them had wanted to find out the truth.

Ray was standing in the doorway to the studio, holding Julie’s fake projector, and there was no talking their way out of it this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m baaaack! Again. I still haven’t really figured out what I’m doing in this next couple chapters, but this one seems pretty ready. Hope you like x


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The boys, in a moment of panic, made themselves invisible, which only made things worse. Cameron turned her head to where they’d just been and gave them an angry glare.

“I didn’t want you to forget this,” Ray said in shock, holding up the projector. He was staring, wide-eyed, at where the boys had just been standing. Then his eyes fixed on Julie in a look she hadn’t seen since the night he’d busted her sneaking out. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

Cameron side stepped away from Julie. “You know what, this seems like a conversation for the two of you,” she said, taking a step towards to the door. “I might just go wait in the car.” Cameron took another step to the door but didn’t factor in that she had to get past Ray in order to escape.

He was standing in her way with his arms crossed. “Nice try,” he said. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Cameron smiled at him like a busted child. “Yeah, I didn’t think that would work.” She walked back to stand next to Julie, who was still reeling through all the possible explanations she could give her dad.

Julie and Ray stared at each other for a few moments while Cameron looked anywhere but either of them.

“Julie, what do we do?” Luke asked. Even he couldn’t snap her attention from the stare down, but the boys weren’t sure if they should become visible again and tell Ray the truth, or if Julie had another plan.

“They’re not holograms, are they?” Ray finally broke the silence.

Both girls looked at Ray, then to each other. Julie looked at the older girl like she was in desperate need of advice.

Cameron said, “Maybe it’s time to tell him the truth.” When Julie gave her a look like she wasn’t being helpful, Cameron shrugged. “That’s the best I’ve got. They’re your ghost band, you come up with something better.”

“ _Our_ ghost band, now,” Julie said. “You’re in this, too, _manager_.”

“But, Julie,” Reggie piped in. “If you tell Ray the truth, we can be real pals.” He sounded so excited, but Julie turned around and glared at him.

“Not helping,” she said through gritted teeth. Then she remembered her dad was still staring at them. 

“I’m sorry, _ghost band_?” Ray said.

After a few stammering seconds, Julie sighed. “No, they’re not holograms, they’re ghosts,” she said, walking across the room to grab something. “They were in a band in the nineties, but they died before they could make it big.”

Julie walked back to Ray with a CD in her hand. He took it from her and looked at it, staying completely silent as he let her finish explaining.

“They used to play here,” Julie continued, “in the garage. It was their stuff in the loft when we moved in.” Julie took a breath before saying her next words. “I think Mom sent them to me.” Ray looked up at his daughter, who turned to look at the boys briefly, then back to him. “I _know_ Mom sent them to me.”

Ray stared from Julie to the CD in his hand where he’d opened it up to find the picture of Julie’s band on the inside. He looked back at her. “Ghosts?”

Julie turned back to the boys and gave an annoyed gesture to indicate now would be the perfect time to come out of hiding. When they did, Ray’s eyebrows shot up.

Julie walked back over to stand between the boys and Cameron. “This is Luke, Alex and—”

“Reggie, I’m Reggie,” the bass player said. He was bouncing excitedly like he’d just met his celebrity idol.

“Hi,” Alex said, putting up an awkward hand. “I guess, we’re The Phantoms.”

“Ba-da,” Luke said with a familiar hand-gesture. He didn’t think meeting Julie’s dad would make him this nervous, but he felt like he’d just picked Julie up for prom and he was going to puke from nerves.

That was when Carlos and Flynn walked around the corner and as soon as they were in view, the two of them froze when they saw the boys were visible in front of Ray. Carlos noticed the CD in Ray’s hand and said quietly, “Oh, busted.”

“We should just—” Flynn started to say, and her and Carlos tried to back away before Ray turned around.

“Not so fast, you two,” Ray said. The pair stopped mid-step. “In here, now.”

They walked in and stood on the other side of Julie and Cameron.

No one said anything as Ray stared across all of them lined up as if they were on trial. “Ghosts, really? And you all knew about this?” he specifically asked Carlos, Flynn and Cameron. Their guilt made it impossible to look him the eye.

“Dad, I wanted to tell you,” Julie pleaded. “But I thought you wouldn’t believe me.”

Ray was quiet for a second. “You said Mom sent them to you?”

“To help me play again,” Julie nodded.

They could see it on his face. He was thinking back to how happy he was when she found her music again, how grateful he was that her band got her back into her music program. And when she said playing with them made her feel closer to her mom.

“Well, we are definitely not done talking about this,” he looked at all of them with a stern face, then it relaxed a little. “But right now you all have a show to play. So let’s get moving.”

They all smiled nervously at each other and hustled to get to the venue.

The line to get in was down the street when they arrived. People were crowded around, trying desperately to get last minute door tickets and they were excited to see Julie when she arrived.

She took a few pictures before Cameron had to get her inside so they could sound check.

During the opening band, Cameron and Flynn were networking with all the important Ghosted people while Julie got ready.

“Michael,” Cameron said, moving Flynn over to where her boss, David, was standing with his boss.

“Cameron, nice to see you again,” he greeted. “This is quite a crowd you’ve managed to get.”

“Well, it was all thanks to this girl,” Cameron gestured to Flynn. “This is Flynn, she’s been working all the bands socials and promoting the show like a boss. She’s been a great marketer.”

Michael looked to Flynn with an impressed smile. “Sounds like you may be a good choice for a summer internship at Ghosted.”

Flynn looked like she might faint, and no one noticed the nervous look Cameron got. “Thank you so much, I am pretty good. It’s nice to meet you.”

“We’re gonna go check on the band,” Cameron said. “You’re gonna love them.”

“I’m already impressed,” Michael told her. “Let’s hope the rest of the show continues to impress.”

On their way to the green room, Cameron got a call—her fourth one in ten minutes, Flynn noticed. But just like the others, she ignored it.

“You’re quite popular tonight,” Flynn said. “Don’t you want to answer that?”

Cameron shook her head. “It’s no one important.”

Then they spotted someone in the back of the VIP area.

Trevor.

“What’s he doing here?” Flynn asked.

Cameron wasn’t ready for that confrontation, so she kept Flynn walking as she said. “Michael was Trevor’s first manager. When they parted ways, Michael started Ghosted on the money he and Trevor made together. They don’t really talk anymore but Michael always invites him to these things. This is the first time he’s shown up though.”

“Wait, so you want Julie and the boys to work for the guy that made his career on Trevor’s stolen music?”

“I didn’t know about that before today,” Cameron explained. “It’s too late to back out now, and right now they need this. They don’t have to stay at Ghosted forever, but they need this opportunity, so why not get something out of the guy?”

“So have you told Julie any of this?”

Cameron shook her head. Flynn looked mad about it, but then Cameron said, “I’ll tell them once the show is over and they start getting offers. I swear, I’ll tell them, but this show needs to go well, so you can’t tell them yet.”

Flynn reluctantly agreed as they walked into the green room.

In the room, Julie looked like she might be sick.

“No need to be nervous,” Cameron told her.

“The CEO of Ghosted Music just told me he was already impressed with the turn out, you guys are gonna do great.” Flynn looked to Cameron, making it clear she didn’t like holding back the truth from Julie, but she’d play along for now.

Julie didn’t know how to tell them that she wasn’t feeling sick from nerves, she just felt sick. Her breath wasn’t coming easy and she was worried she might pass out.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Luke asked her, worry overpowering every other feeling he had.

Julie nodded and smiled wide at him. “I’ll be alright. Let’s do this.”

There was a knock on the door from the stage tech who had come to walk Julie to stage.

“See you guys out there,” she said.

They all gave her excited, reassuring looks, and left the room to play their most important show yet.


End file.
